Photo: brooklyn-church.org
For Orthodox Christians, this Sunday's Gospel is about a Samaritan woman who goes to a well for some water. There she encounters Christ, who offers her the Living Water of the Spirit.
This passage is read during the paschal season -- the 40 days from Pascha (Easter) to Ascension
-- because Pascha was historically the time when baptisms were
done, so new converts had just had their own, personal encounter with
Christ in the healing waters of that mystery.
In addition to this theme, however, I'll be thinking of another when it comes to the Sunday of the Samaritan: that of racial animosity and reconciliation.
For Jews such as Christ was, the Samaritans were in many ways worse
than heathen (the feeling was surely mutual). Other, surrounding
peoples were different enough to be deemed incapable of knowing
better, but Samaritans and their claims to be the only, authentic
keepers of the law cut a little too close to home.
Nothing so annoys and disturbs us as those so similar that their
differences reflect on our own identity. When we're separate, what you
do is your concern. But replace separation with integration, and
suddenly I see myself reflected in you, which can be uncomfortable.
The Samaritan's conversion, and that of her village, is thus about
more than the conversion of some random "outsiders." It offers insight
into reconciliation -- a process where differences are not
abolished, but the divisions that can result are overcome.
Rev. Moses Berry, Photo:
A dynamic speaker with an amazing conversion story, Berry serves a
parish he founded on the Missouri farmland his family has owned since
1871, shortly after being freed from slavery. There, he's also
established the Ozarks Afro-American History Museum, consisting
largely of family heirlooms, many of which he shared.
Most stunning to me were the iron neck shackle, with balls and
chains, that his great-grandfather was forced to wear as a slave in
transit. To my astonishment, while speaking about this artifact Berry
actually put it on, to demonstrate how it was worn.
Never in my life did the impact of America's slave-owning past
become so real for me as when I watched an African-American Orthodox
priest, dressed in clerical garb, put on the slave irons of his
ancestor. And never did my thirst for reconciliation in Christ feel so
strong.
What also made Berry's presentation impactful was the lack of
condemnation or any guilt-tripping of people with my skin tone. This
was one brother speaking to his other brothers in Christ.
I pray for Berry and his ministry, and that God raises up others
from his community to become clergy in His church. And I pray that in
Christ, we become one.
Click
The
realities of slavery, hopes and dreams for the African-American
community for a Black Orthodox Priest in America (fr Moses Berry)
Sunday of the Samaritan woman (5th Sunday of Pascha): "Close to God is he who in his daily life becomes the light of Christ who enlightens his neighbours..."
Sunday of the Samaritan woman (5th Sunday of Pascha): "Close to God is he who in his daily life becomes the light of Christ who enlightens his neighbours..."
Orthodox Christian Clergy Against Racism
Racism: An Orthodox Perspective
Christians and the immigration issue (& Orthodox Church of St Nicholas of Japan in Johannesburg)
Racial Identities and Racism by Mother Katherine
Grace and “the Inverted Pyramid”
The Heresy of Racism
Racism (tag)
Racism: An Orthodox Perspective
Christians and the immigration issue (& Orthodox Church of St Nicholas of Japan in Johannesburg)
Racial Identities and Racism by Mother Katherine
Grace and “the Inverted Pyramid”
The Heresy of Racism
Racism (tag)
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